


burned out from a joy ride

by zenins



Category: Gintama
Genre: Character Study, Childhood Memories, Fluff, Future Fic, Joui War, M/M, Post-Canon, happy and loved takasugi that's the entire fic, spoilers for the manga's ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:54:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25820158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenins/pseuds/zenins
Summary: Takasugi Shinsuke's birthdays along the years and what he gains
Relationships: Kawakami Bansai/Takasugi Shinsuke, Sakata Gintoki/Takasugi Shinsuke
Comments: 2
Kudos: 39





	burned out from a joy ride

The day Takasugi Shinsuke is born, 10 of August, is a dry and sunny day. He comes to the world as a baby with his dad’s facial features: from his small nose to his big and round eyes, he looks like his father. It isn’t until a few weeks later that they realize he’s gotten his mother’s green eyes. He isn’t particularly big, but he looks healthy. For now, that's enough. There’s nothing more than the couple could have ever wished for, a son to carry the family’s legacy.

―

During Shinsuke’s ninth birthday, all he gets is another fight with his parents. Mostly out of mocking of one of his classmate,partly because of how he snapped at his father. He doesn’t even feel upset or hurt by it; he’s gotten more than plenty of time to grow used to his father’s condescending and hostile temperament and his mother’s impotent nature. He doesn’t even feel guilty for having caused another argument, even on his “special” day, as his mother used to call it when he was younger.

At last, he decides to go sit by his favorite temple. If he can’t have a peaceful evening in his own “home”, he will try to have it by himself. What he doesn’t expect is to see Katsura sitting there reading. As soon as Katsura sees him, he stands up and goes to meet him along the way.

“What are you doing here? Don’t you have things to study?” Shinsuke asks in a low voice

“I thought you would come here after a fight with your dad today considering what you did today to Yuuki” Katsura confesses. “And it’s your birthday. I know you, even if you say it doesn’t matter, it does to you”

“It's just another day. Nothing different from last night or a week ago or tomorrow”

“You don’t have to act so tough, you know?” Katsura muses “It’s okay to be mad at your parents too.” Seeing Shinsuke is about to reply back with another white lie, Katsura cuts him off “I made you a little cake too”

Seeing Shinsuke’s surprised look, Katsura’s lips turn into a smile.

“I couldn’t get you nine candles,though” Katsura admits “But I made it chocolate because that was your favorite one, right?”

“Yes.Thank you, Katsura” Shinsuke mumbled. He doesn't even care about something like flavours or candles. It truly was more than what he had expected he’d get.

A friend and a close to happy memory, that was more than enough to say that his ninth birthday was not as bad as he had originally thought it would be.

―

For his thirteenth birthday, Shinsuke gets his first own shamisen. He’s lost in words when Shouyo handles it to him. His first reaction is to say he can’t accept it. He knows they don't have enough money to spend it on things they truly don’t need. He can see it by how Gintoki sometimes uses clothes that used to belong to their master, or in how Katsura rarely asks for anything to Shouyo, not even for his birthday. But his desire to keep it is stronger than his will to refuse it.

Shouyo, likely to have noticed his train of thought, smiles warmly.

“It's okay,Takasugi. It genuinely has not been a bother” Shouyo affirmed “We all knew how much you wanted to play again, and you’ve been working really hard for the past couple of years, haven’t you?”

“Yes...but...how do I..?” Shinsuke starts asking, but as soon as he begins, Gintoki interrupts him.

“Are you stupid? We got it for you. Accept it. Master told you it wasn’t much. Quit pretending to be a grateful guy, it doesn’t suit you” Gintoki scrowls

Before he can reply back, he sees Shouyo laughing. “Gintoki, there’s no need to be so hard on him. Specially not on such an important date as a birthday is” Shouyo raises his hand and puts it on the top of his and Gintoki’s head “You’ll play for us one day,right, Takasugi?” Shinsuke feels his hand ruffle his hair a bit. Shinsuke nods and smiles to himself. Of course he would play for them

True to Shouyo’s words, Shinsuke plays for the three of them that night. The shamisen, _his_ shamisen, is no longer a sound he has to keep quiet so he doesn't bother his father or disrupt him.

After some time, Katsura begins to sing. Shinsuke deduces that Katsura sings songs his grandma would sing to him as a kid. Gintoki doesn’t tease him, and Shinsuke never stops Katsura from doing so. Every so often, Shinsuke would fall asleep listening to Katsura’s soft and small voice as he played. He would wake up noticing someone took away his shamisen so he could possibly not shatter his beloved instrument. He concluded it was Gintoki, who, to everyone’s surprise, was the one to have more trouble to fall asleep at night. Other times, he thought it was Katsura, or even Shouyo, who would often come to check if him and Gintoki were asleep or still bickering.

Shinsuke thinks he was given more than just an instrument that year. The shamisen didn’t matter to him as much as it did to see his friends and master smile whenever he played for them.

―

For his seventeenth birthday, he’s surprised by Tatsuma and Katsura on his way to their usual spot on the camp. With his constant bright smile,Tatsuma corners him.

“Hey Takasugi, some little birds around here told me yer birthday was today, right?” Tatsuma asks grinning, he turns to Katsura “We decided we could try to get ya something” Katsura gives Takasugi a little notebook and a pair of new brushes and ink.

“We all noticed you ran out notebooks these days and we thought this could be useful. Gintoki was the one who added that stupid drawing when Sakamoto gave him the journal so he would give it to you in case we weren’t around” Katsura confesses “Turns out it’s him who won’t probably arrive with his men until tonight”

“Kintoki’s drawing skills are far better than expected” Tatsuma laughs as Shinsuke opens the first page to see Gintoki had drawn himself as a giant next to him, who happened to be tiny in comparison. Katsura was at the background smiling and Tatsuma’s face was round, yellow and radiating sunshines on the top of the page. Takasugi didn’t know whether he wanted to go find Gintoki and kill him or smile at the childish doodle.

Shinsuke decides it will be better to thank his comrades first. “There was no need, but thank you” He saves the notebook on the pocket of his dark jacket and goes sit with Tatsuma and Katsura by the roof. They make little conversation and wait for Gintoki to come back too.

By the time Gintoki arrives with his battalion, it's almost midnight. Tatsuma has fallen asleep by the fire and is currently snoring as if his life depended on it. Katsura had fallen asleep even earlier than Tatsuma, too worn out from his strategy meetings probably. So Shinsuke is the only one of them who sees Gintoki arrive.

Without making much sound or even saying anything to Shinsuke, Gintoki settles by his side and curls himself into a ball. Shinsuke closes his new journal and eyes him. He’s not sure if Gintoki has had a bad day or if he’s really just thinking. Gintoki rolls on his back and looks up to see the stars. They stay quiet for a while, with nothing but the sound of Tatsuma’s loud snores. Gintoki breaks the silence first.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get you anything" Gintoki says softly, shutting his eyes.

“Are you joking? Who else would have drawn this?” Shinsuke says frowning. That earns him a little giggle from Gintoki.

“A real artist. A good one” Gintoki jokes. He opens his eyes again “I still wish I could have done something more”

“You gave those two the idea to get the notebook, didn’t you?” Gintoki’s head is close to Shinsuke's left leg. Without thinking it much, Shinsuke grabs Gintoki's hand.

"It's okay. More than okay. And it's not like I used to get many things as a kid" Noticing Gintoki was either about to protest or call him a rich kid like he usually did, he goes on "Either ways, I don't need much. All I need is here with me" He squeezes Gintoki's hand. "Though it would be great if you bought me a new shamisen once this war is over"

"As if I had enough money, asshole" Gintoki frowns as Shinsuke smiles. "But it's a deal" Gintoki kisses his hand "Someday I will.”

Seeing Gintoki seems like he’s going to fall asleep soon, he leans on and kisses his forehead "Sleep well"

"Goodnight. Happy birthday again, Shinsuke" Gintoki whispers.

―

For Shinsuke’s 24th birthday, he’s on a mission with Bansai. More than a mission, it’s felt like they are wandering trying to find something for a future plan.

After walking for hours, they stop by a temple to shield themselves by the rain. Shinsuke takes off his sedge hat and tries to shake off the rain from his yukata.

Bansai sits down in the temple’s dark floor, with his headphones on his neck and his legs crossed, he was looking for something on his pockets. Seeing Shinsuke’s questioning look, he begins to explain “I bought you some tobacco for your kiseru” he said as he handed it to Shinsuke “We are going to be here for long, aren’t we?”

“Unless the sky clears out soon, it’s likely” Shinsuke replies as he takes the tobacco. “What’s this for?” Shinsuke says surprised, with a smile appearing on his lips.

“It’s your birthday, isn’t it? I thought you’d want something. And I didn't have much time to buy you something better” He takes off his glasses and holds his shamisen “After all, you gifted me these headphones. The least I can do is play for you” Bansai says looking directly into his eyes.

“Who am I to stop you?” Shinsuke chuckles “Although I wish we could play together”

“When we get _home_ , we will” Bansai promises as starts playing a chord Shinsuke knows as the back of his hand.

And like that, Shinsuke spends his twenty fourth birthday calmly listening to the rain and Bansai playing all of his favorite songs.

―

According to Gintoki’s age, Shinsuke’s supposedly turning 34 today. He can tell also by how Kagura has been screaming about it and congratulating him all day. It’s still astonishing to him how he went from thinking Gintoki was stupid for caring about that little girl to viewing her as some sort of responsability he has now.  
It’s not like he was expected to be reborn neither, but he’s learnt and grown to believe that miracles take all sorts of forms.

In all honesty, he had almost forgotten his birthday. If it hadn’t been because Kagura had woken him up at 7am screaming happy birthday with a sleepy Gintoki and Shinpachi apologizing for them, he would have thought it was another ordinary morning.

For his thirty fourth birthday, he doesn’t get presents like he did in the past. He gets even _more_ than that. Katsura visits them with Sakamoto and Mutsu and they all go to have lunch together to Hokuto Shinken ramen. It’s still astounding to Shinsuke that he gets to have a second choice, or that he can freely walk in Tokyo with his them.

After being reborn, he gained his memories back as soon as he grew up within days. In a matter of weeks he was already 14, and in two months or so, he reached his normal age again.

Of course, he was teased by a certain silver haired man about how he aged so fast but his height remained constant through almost all the process.

Now, in his normal self, or as far as “normal” can be used to describe his growth, he gets to celebrate another year once again.

All he thought he had lost forever, is with him today, somehow.

He feels the weight of Bansai’s old shamisen on his hands and Kagura’s expectant looks on him, ready to see him play Shinpachi’s favorite song again . He hears Sakamoto laugh at something Katsura or Gintoki probably said

He begins to play. For another life, for another year.

**Author's Note:**

> happy birthday takasugi! this was an excuse to write him happy because it's what he deserves
> 
> find me on my twitter!! bansaisugi


End file.
